At Long Last
by g3ozLizh
Summary: Dedicated for Clark and Lana lovers. My take on the second to the last episode of Season 3. Love is a mystery in itself...


At Long Last

By g3ozLizh

He bent down and kissed her, somewhere between her left cheek and ear.

She fluttered her eyes closed; the feeling was exquisite and heartbreaking and…something wonderfully real.

It was over too soon.

He lingered. Yes, he lingered. But it was like their yo-yo relationship: there but not there.

Gone?

Definitely not. _Just _not there.

As he pulled back, she looked deeply into his dark orbs and she felt the tears burning the edges of her eyes. Very soon, the gnawing ache would melt into tears…but it will never ever truly go away.

He took hold of her gaze---it's all he could do to not make it more painful than it really is. His eyes did what his arms would have done given another situation, another lifetime, himself as another man…?

No genius artist can paint his expression, a mixture of what he want her to see and what not to see. Perhaps to make her see that he truly does not want her gone?

"Goodbye, Lana. Hope you find what you're looking for in Paris."

And just when everything seemed to come to an end, Lana crossed over that extra distance that seemed to stretch into eternity between them: Lana Lang tiptoed and kissed Clark Kent with all the love and care she had buried deep inside.

Time stood still for both of them. Forever was here and now. There would be no end…only love everlasting.

No longer the girl from next door, she pulled back only enough for her to say, "I'll never find it in Paris." Her lips as she spoke grazed his lips and pressed hers to his briefly before saying, "It's right here…" She took hold both of his hands and together with her hands, pressed each intertwined pair to each their thudding hearts. "Closing the gap between us."

The reality of what she just said made his breath catch, "_Lana…_"

"Clark, I don't care anymore if you can't or won't tell me everything about you. It's your love that's important to me and one I can't live without. Who cares if a part of you will always remain a mystery?" Her eyes glazed over with tears no longer burning with that ache but with a different kind of ache and she softly smiled as she continued to say, "Love itself is a mystery…and I've learned that people who don't question its entirety but instead let it unravel its mystery on its own are blessed with the happiness it offers. And I choose to accept that happiness and not question it for what it does not reveal." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves going overdrive with the gravity of what she had just confessed. "I won't ask for anything more than to have your love."

After hearing everything, he seemed to feel his feet leaving the ground with her still in his arms. Hey, anything seems possible now.

He encircled her in his arms. "And you will have my love… You've had it since the very first time we met."

She chuckled, absent-mindedly drawing circles on his chest with her forefinger. "That sounds like a long time."

"It is." He pressed her closer still. "And forever will still be not enough, for what's to come and for the missed moments..."

She inclined her head, eyes and smile beguiling him to continue.

"I was afraid to…to present what I was feeling for you…out in the open…in case you'll be overwhelmed by it or dismiss it as some farm boy's infatuation."

Her smile turned into a grin. "I could drown in your love and be smothered with your kisses and still I'll love you like it's the first time." She breathed in deeply, feeling renewed and invigorated, eyes shining. "I don't care if you came from another planet or something in that line" ---if only she knew how right she was, Clark showed no outward reaction, still overwhelmed by her confession--- "for I have asked the stars to give me a man I'll love for all my life and who'll love me back with the intensity of the stars falling from the sky."

She paused, reminiscing, "I remember your mom wishing for a boy of her own and as I raised my star wand to grant her her wish and as a child, I never doubted that what she wished for can't and won't come true. Even up to now… for you are here. There's no denying it, Clark. You _are_ the boy your parents wished for…and _I_…wished for."

Clark Kent smiled a wide smile as his heart soared and it's as if the two of them had soared together with their hearts.

"And I will always love you, Lana Lang, no matter what. You'll always occupy the biggest part of my heart, if not all."

"I know you reserve a part of your heart for the people you save and will save…because that's how kind you are and I won't complain." Then her voice turned husky. "But you'll have _all _of my heart, without reservations and whatever happens."

And as the afternoon sun dipped lower into the horizon before welcoming what's to come, the hero and the love of his life preserved this moment of time with a kiss as intense as the fiery star streaking across the night sky.

Hug of Love:

The End is The Beginning.

Started & finished August 4, 2004

Polished August 15, 2004

Notes:

This is my take on the second to the last episode of season 3. This serves to satisfy (hopefully!) our Clark and Lana cravings and form an alternate story for those wanting their first to be their one and only, to those never giving up on what feels so right even if the whole world seems to conspire against it. All these seasons of pining for Clark & Lana to be together and then here come season 4 with Lois in the picture… For me, it will always be the two of them, Clark & Lana. Till next time! (Hopefully, there will be if you like this!)


End file.
